HBO Max seems to have given up on another Scooby-Doo project in development. Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Pups was a CG-animated program aimed at preschoolers announced last year as the WarnerMedia regime gave way to Discovery and David Zaslav.
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Unlike the critically panned disaster that is Velma, which is getting another season, insiders have claimed that Warner is passing on the former. A post from the fan-run Animation on HBO Max Twitter account is one source that claims Mystery Pups was pulled mid-production.
“SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE MYSTERY PUPS is no longer moving forward at HBO Max. Production on the series has wrapped early since it currently does not have a home but may continue in the future if it finds a new distributor,” read the tweet.
Writer and actor Roger Eschbacher heard the same thing from an unnamed colleague, supposedly working on the show.
“Our show, Scooby Doo: Mystery Pups has wrapped early because we lost our distribution with HBO Max,” the unnamed source said. “It is a very entertaining show that I cannot openly share, but it might get picked up again if they find another distributor.”
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Like Batman: Caped Crusader and Dead Boy Detectives, Mystery Pups could turn that around and find a home on Amazon Prime, or elsewhere, as it has no tax loopholes holding it back.
Scoob 2 didn’t get the same reprieve; Zaslav needed to save some money. That film didn’t have as much internal hype for it reported either.
Mystery Pups, conversely, had WB Animation President Sam Register glowing. “[We’re] thrilled to…give preschoolers a version of Scooby to call their own…this show promises to entertain the youngest of mystery solvers,” he said via Pop Culture.
The first of its kind as a CGI Scooby targeting an urchin demo, Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Pups would have seen the return of Matthew Lillard to Shaggy and reuniting with Frank Welker, the indefatigable voice of Scoob — sans Mystery, Inc. — as counselors at a camp for dogs.
Neither Warner Bros. nor the trade publications have confirmed or commented on this story.
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